“You will have to whip black people”: the government seizes Arcom after the release of a game deemed racist on Steam

Twenty-five years, to the day, after the promulgation of the Taubira law recognizing the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity, the release of the video game Plantation Simulator goes badly. Uploaded this May 21 on the Steam platform, the title allows the player to play as a white plantation owner who must employ black slaves, reports BFM Tech. A game scenario which arouses indignation even in the ranks of the government, where we denounce a “apologia for slavery” and the “racist violence”.

It must be said that the Steam sheet of Plantation Simulator is shocking: “In this game you will have to whip black people to make your farm productiveâ€details the creator, adding that “If you whip them too much, they will die”. “This game is a disgraceâ€took offense Anne Le Hénanff, the Minister Delegate in charge of Digital in a message posted Thursday on the social network digital, Arcom, as well as reporting via the PHAROS platform.

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The game developer, known under the pseudonym FzzyBzzy, claims a provocative approach. “I’m surprisingly surprised it was approved. Where is the limit?he even expressed surprise in a message on X. In another message, he made a cynical observation: “I know games love slavery… you see it in Morrowind, Fallout, RimWorld, Solarice, even fucking Pokémon. People like to be shitty humans.”

Whatever the motivations behind this game, several Internet users question Steam’s moderation policy, regularly criticized in Europe. The platform had already been pinned for hosting a game glorifying the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas – a title since removed. “As I have said from the beginning: no platform is above the law”insisted Anne Le Hénanff in her message on Thursday. In any case, the executive seems determined to toughen its tone in the face of these repeated lacks of moderation.